Abstract

The effects of hate speech on racism, intergroup violence or political radicalization have been a primary focus of social psychological theorizing for decades (Allport, 1954). The recent development of electronic means of communication (social media, news websites, citizen journalism) made hate speech one of the most pressing societal issues and a fertile ground for social psychological theorizing and research. Social psychological research has shown that overhearing hate speech, a derogatory language about minorities or immigrant groups, increases stereotyping, discrimination and even subtle biases and implicit forms of prejudice (see: Bilewicz & Soral, 2020). There are three key processes that are responsible for this “epidemics of hate speech”: behavioral (desensitization), normative (change in perceived norms) and emotional (spread of contempt instead of empathy). In this presentation I would like to present recent studies looking at the potential psychological ways of confronting hate speech epidemics, including interventions in online and offline environments.

Michał Bilewicz is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Warsaw where he directs the Center for Research on Prejudice. His research concerns social psychology of intergroup relations, post-conflict reconciliation, and prejudice. Since 2009 he leads the Polish Prejudice Survey, a largest cyclical representative survey program on intergroup relations in Poland. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the New School for Social Research, a DAAD post-doctoral researcher at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena and visiting professor at the University of Leipzig. Currently he leads a large research project on hate speech epidemics funded by the Polish National Science Centre.

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